Lecture 8 October 25, 2017 Lab 5
News Lab 2 & 3 Handed back next week (I hope). Lab 4 Due today Lab 5 (Transiting Exoplanets) Handed out and observing will start Friday. Due November 8 (or later)
Stellar Photometry in Images Lab 5: Measuring the Transit of an Exoplanet Determines the radius of the planet (and it s orbital period if observe multiple transits). The basic method is to measure the brightnesses of stars in images. Will perform differential photometry by using stars in the field with known magnitudes.
Photometry in Images Correct the image to a uniform, linear response. Dark current and bias level subtraction either done at the telescope with autodark subtraction or done by taking separate dark images and subtracting them from the science images later. Need to create an average image of a uniformly illuminated field ( flat field ) and divide by it. The mkflatru command. Identify your target and comparison stars. Measure the brightness of stars in all of the images.
CCD calibration If there is significant dark current present: Science Frame Dark Frame Science -Dark -Bias Output Image Bias Image Flat Field Image Flat -Dark -Bias Sc-Dark-Bias Flat-Dark-Bias 5
Exoplanet Transits and Eclipses A transit is when a planet crosses in front of a star. The resulting eclipse reduces the star s apparent brightness and this tells us the planet s radius (if the star s radius is known). Because the orbit must be nearly edge on, such systems can yield accurate measurements of planetary mass.
An example of a light curve for the first known transiting exoplanet. Note the curvature due to the non-constant stellar surface brightness.
An analogy is the transit of Venus across the Sun observed at the Schommer Observatory this summer. With exoplanets we can only measure the total amount of light from the star. Limb darkening Venus sunspot Pharmacy building!
V magnitudes vs time for TrES-3 b and four brighter comparison stars. What explains the behavior of V with time?
52 altitude 31 altitude All stars in the field dimmed by passing thin clouds. The smooth decrease with time is caused by increasing airmass.
52 altitude 31 altitude So taking the difference in magnitudes of different stars in the field will remove atmospheric effects.
Difference between the magnitude of a star and a comparison star.
Lab 5 Preparation: Choosing the Target Examine the transits occuring during your night(s) using the Exoplanet Transit Database. Choose the best transit using the criteria: Transit happens during your lab period. The star is bright enough (V < 13.0 or so). Transit depth larger than 0.01 magnitude. The altitude is not too low (preferably 45 degrees or greater). The star does not cross the meridian (or crosses it less than about 45 minutes before the end of observing).
Transit predictions page Schommer Observatory (east) longitude = 285.5 Latitude = 40.5 Lists the transits occurring on a selected night.
Dates and times in UT = EDT + 4 hours. So these transits are for the evening of Oct 11 th.
Lab 5 Preparation: Choosing the Target Examine the transits occurring during your night(s) using the Exoplanet Transit Database. Choose the best transit using the criteria: Transit happens during your lab period. The star is bright enough (V < 13.0 or so). Transit depth larger than 0.01 magnitude. The altitude is not too low (preferably >=45 ). Must then use The Sky to check: Is a good guide star (brighter than 10 th ) available. Is there at least one comparison star available in the field of view of the main CCD.
Clicking on the name of a target in the list along the left-hand side of the Exoplanet Transit Database displays recent observations of the star. These are useful for deciding how accurate the predicted start and end time are.
Observing for Lab 5 Initial planning: Use The Sky to identify nearby bright star to slew to and check pointing (3 rd magnitude or brighter). Also identify a nearby 7-8 th magnitude focus star. Plan how to get the guide star onto the small field of view of the guide CCD.
Clicking on the object name brings up a finding chart. North is up, east to the left (this is conventional for astronomical images). Image width is a little less than the short side of our camera field of view.
Same field in The Sky. Rotation tool (in Orientation menu)
Observing for Lab 5 While observing: Make sure that you start a new block of observations when then current one ends. Keep checking and, if necessary, adjusting the dome slit so that the dome does not block the telescope aperture. Keep an eye on the guide star to make sure that it has not disappeared (clouds or tracking failure).